I’m a person full of lists: for the grocery store, to-do throughout the day, bottles of wine I’ve loved, bottles of wine I’ve hated, story ideas, recipes I want to make for parties. Over the last two years, I’ve added (to what has become another list) the books I read.
This list (called Books Read in 2023 so as to distinguish it from Books I WANT to Read in 2023) started as a way to remind myself what I had actually read. Since then, it has become something of a motivator for me — I love crossing an item off of a to-do list, and adding a book I’ve finished to this list gives me the same obsessive satisfaction.
I’ve always called myself “a reader,” whatever that means, but since starting to work for myself, it has sometimes felt challenging to tear myself away from work that can stretch on forever to just sit down and read a book. In a long-overdue effort to correct my wildly off-balance work/life split, I’ve gotten back into reading and I can say with full confidence: it’s good! 10/10 activity. Would recommend for anyone and everyone.
Some of you from the very, very early days may recall that Page & Plate began as a blog where I paired the books I was reading — the pages — with the food I was eating — the plates. (“Well fed, well read!” I used to chirp at events.) Today’s note is a nod to the readers among you readers. Books are back, baby!
If you’ve read something lately that you’ve loved or hated, respond to this email and let me know! My Books I WANT to Read in 2023 list awaits.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
What a great summer book. The term “beach read” makes me itch, but this book fits the general idea. It’s fun, fast-paced, and felt fresh and exciting. I don’t read a whole lot of fiction these days apart from my beloved murder mysteries (more on that another time, I suppose), so this felt extra special. I forgot how lovely it was to read a book with some magic in it and just…lean into that instead of meeting it with skepticism.
The book follows a young cartographer, Nell, who finds a mysterious map in her estranged late father’s office. Her efforts to uncover the past take her on a fun, National Treasure-meets-Indiana Jones but set in a library type treasure hunt.
Grab a copy here.
Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well Being by Mary Beth Albright
I’ve not quite yet finished this book, but I’m already ordering it for everyone I know. I love a good book that’s stuffed full of research and science-backed studies, but I hate stumbling through difficult-to-read non-fiction writing, so I’m pleased to report that Albright makes everything she details very easy to understand and, dare I say, fun to read!
The thesis at the root of this book is that food has a stronger connection to our emotional and mental state than we give it credit for. Albright talks through the research that proves how important eating well can be for our mental health and then walks you through how to implement this stuff in your own life. The whole time I’m reading, I keep nodding my head vigorously — all of this feels like something we all knew deep down and now have a reason to act upon.
Grab a copy here.
Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon by M.F.K. Fisher
Do you know of M.F.K. Fisher? Because I am obsessed with her. There will definitely be a longer newsletter on her at some point, but what you need to know right now is that she is one of the OG force-of-nature women food writers and that she has eyebrows like nobody else.
This lovely, tiny little missive is a record of her time in Dijon throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s, a stay that opened her eyes to food and, some might say, launched her on the path to prolific food writer. It is a treasure.
Grab a copy here.
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